JTRS HMS completes formal testing

General Dynamics C4 Systems’ (GDC4S’) JTRS HMS AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radio has completed Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E). This is the last formal test required by the military before the radios enter full-rate production, according to a GDC4S 14 December 2011 company statement.

The IOT&E took place during the US Army's recently concluded Network Integration Evaluation at Fort Bliss, Texas. Members of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD) evaluated the AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radio in a variety of tactical exercises that included convoy operations, reconnaissance, counterinsurgency and medical evacuation missions.

The Rifleman radio, one of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) family of radios, is the first JTRS radio to use the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) to enable secure networked communications among platoon, squad and team-level soldiers and their leaders. 

Benefits of the new system include the ability for soldiers to communicate with radios instead of shouting or using hand-and-arm signals, which will alter soldiers' tactical approach to missions.
In June 2011, the JTRS HMS program achieved a Milestone C decision, enabling the Low Rate Initial Production of 6,250 AN/PRC-154 Rifleman and 100 AN/PRC-155 Manpack radios. JTRS HMS radios take full advantage of the government's library of waveforms, including the Soldier Radio Waveform, and in the future, the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) and Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) critical to communicating on the Army's emerging tactical communications network.